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There are so many foods
that we take for granted,

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but if you think about it,

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some of them shouldn't be there at
all and seem to go against nature.

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There's the ham that
is so square and pink...

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What's the difference between
processed ham and this ham here?

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Convenience.

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Cheap. And then there are bananas
that travel for thousands of miles

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but turn up on the supermarket shelf
perfectly ripe.

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You like them nice and yellow.
Spotty? Yes, black spots.

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That's when they are really sweet.

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I'm going to reveal the secrets
behind supermarket food.

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Most of us can't get inside a
food factory, but if you could, you
wouldn't see much.

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Just miles of pipes
and stainless steel vats.

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I'm going to take it back to basics
to find out what they are really
doing to the food that we eat.

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Inside this barn I've set up
my own food factory.

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The inside of this barn may look
like it's full of farmyard junk,

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but it's got everything I need to
reveal the secrets inside
supermarket food.

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Square ham.
I think this really divides people.

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You either love it or you hate it.
Some people don't like the fact
that it's a bit wet

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or smells a bit funny, but what's in
it and why is it square?

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Two different types of ham here.

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What do you think
the differences are?

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It looks like it's gone through
a machine and been all processed. 
Processed, right.

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How you think this one is made?

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I don't know, watered down.

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How do you reckon they make that?
It's square, isn't it? 
Yeah. On a machine. And that one?

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That one's probably cut properly. 
Off the bone? Yes.

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Hello, you've got
the same shirt as me.

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Can you tell me the difference
between these two?

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How you reckon they make the square
ham? Squash it up, I imagine,
in a press.

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Is that right? Perfect! How's
the farm going?

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It's good. I hope it's still there
when I get back but it's all right,
thanks a lot.

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Square ham
isn't sliced from a joint.

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The main ingredient they
add to raw pork to make
square sandwich ham is water.

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One of the reasons that they add
water to their meat in the factory

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is to make it more tender, but also
they want to add a bit of weight,
so I'm going to add water too.

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The best way to get lots of water
into the meat is to inject it
using lots of needles.

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Now look at this beast.

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You wouldn't want to
sit on this in a hurry.

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But it's not only water they add.

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All I need to do now

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is get my liquid ready because what
I'm about to inject into the meat
isn't just pure water.

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First, some familiar ingredients
for preserving and flavour.

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In goes the salt.

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And sugar.

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And now, some of the less familiar
ingredients. First, phosphates.

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Not all ham producers use this, but
if you want a lot of water in your
ham, then this is the stuff to use.

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The phosphates help
keep the water in.

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The next powder is sodium nitrite.

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It's used by lots of manufacturers
because it's a very
good preservative.

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Surprisingly, it's this white powder
which gives square ham that
bright pink colour.

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This is going to
add a little bit of flavour,

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but it's going to give that
rosy colour to the ham,

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as well as acting as a
preservative.

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Mix them up and I've got what
square ham producers call brine.

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OK, that's ready to use now.

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For the cheapest economy stuff,

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they inject enough of this brine
to boost the weight by up to 20%.

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Now I need to pump up the pressure.

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Here we go.

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It's coming out quick!

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Pouring out, pouring out.
Get as much in as I can.

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In the factory, the meat would be
coming along on a conveyor and this
would be happening really rapidly.

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There we are, look.
We can hear it gurgling away.

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My machine looks like torture
but it's working a treat.

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Now, I reckon that's the last.
Put this to one side, turn that off.

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There's a lot of water that has come
out around the sides of the tray,

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and that doesn't matter because it
has worked.

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The majority of it has gone in.
I can see all the little holes that
I've made around the meat.

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Look at that,
it looks like a pin cushion.

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But injecting the brine
is only the first step.

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The square ham factory
has to do something else to the meat

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to make it soak up all that liquid.

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Out the back,
I've got just what I need.

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This should do the job.

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OK, in goes the pork
with all the brine in it.

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I'm going to tumble my meat,
just like the factory. Look at that.

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It's a bit sloppy.

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Tumbling makes the meat tender and
sticky, and allows the chemicals in

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the brine to penetrate and produce
that bright pink square ham colour.

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Now, as the meat tumbles round,
that bashing and rolling
encourages the meat to release

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a substance called myosin and that's
made it go all sort of sticky,

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and that's going to help me bind
all these chunks of meat together.

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I'm going to leave that tumbling
to get my meat nice and sticky,

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and hopefully all the extra
sugary brine will be absorbed.

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I'll come back in a couple of hours
to see how my square ham turns out.

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There's always mushrooms ready
to buy on the supermarket shelves,
but there shouldn't be.

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In nature, mushrooms only grow in
the autumn, so what are they doing
to them to make this possible?

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MUSIC: "Theme from The X-Files"

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Mushrooms
are not like any other food crop.

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They are almost alien.

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They're not even plants.

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Unlike plants,
which rely on the sun to grow,
sunlight is useless to mushrooms.

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Left alone they would only
mysteriously appear in autumn, which

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would make them a rare and expensive
luxury, like truffles and caviar.

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So, how do the supermarkets
get them on the shelves
every single day of the year.

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The answer is that the mushroom
growers have found a way
of tricking the mushrooms.

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The secret to fooling mushrooms
doesn't even start with a mushroom.

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It starts underground.

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The mushroom is the bit that
we can see, but it's not the
part that has to be tricked.

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It is the white fibres underneath
the ground that the farmer has to
trick, and it's called mycelium.

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The mushroom is the mycelium's
fruit, but it only
appears in autumn.

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Mycelium even puzzles mushroom
farmers like Patrick

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who have to fool it into
producing fruit all the year round.

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Wow!

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A bit different, isn't it?

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It's like

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walking into a very damp wood,
it's got that feeling about it.

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The principle we are trying to
recreate is the natural environment
of a mycelium, and as you can see,

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there's the mycelium
from the spawn spiking away and
totally colonising the entire shed.

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So mycelium is white thread-like
roots that have gone all the way
through this block of compost?

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Yes. They look almost like spider
webs, don't they? It's incredible.

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These little
tiny white heads are all the way

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through, and this will eventually
be one block of mushrooms.

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That's right, eventually the whole
thing will be the same organism.

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This super organism only produces
fruit when it is in imminent danger.

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At least, that's what mushroom
farmers like Patrick believe.

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They've discovered how to
frighten it into fruiting,

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but the weird thing is they don't
quite know why their trick works.

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Here we have a casing layer that
we're putting over the top...

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very moist, very wet.
What does that do?

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That is a very, very good question.

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It's the signal for the
mushroom to fruit.

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We are not really sure why,
but it does.

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So this is almost the mystery
element of growing mushrooms?

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It is the enigma, yes.
But you are changing the environment
drastically, aren't you?

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We are. We are putting a wet,
heavy coat over the top of it and

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later we'll fiddle with
the environment even more

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and we're going to trick it
into thinking it wants to fruit.

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Mushroom farmers know the
truth is out there.

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When conditions are like
the coming of winter,

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the tiny pinheads break the surface,
the mycelium is trying to escape.

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The idea is that the
mycelium feels under threat

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and as a response it reproduces by
pushing up its fruiting bodies,
which are mushrooms.

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As these grow, they open up
and expose these gills,
which release spores.

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The spores are carried in the wind,
and when they land they grow into a
whole new generation of mycelium.

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The most satisfying outcome of
all this trickery is that we can

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enjoy mushrooms all the year round,
so they're not just a weird luxury.

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So, are these nearly ready?
I've got to taste one.

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Yes, we're just about there.
I think this little one will
be just about... Cor, look at that!

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Salt and pepper, a bit of butter.
Lovely.

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Mmm!

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Can't beat it, can you? Simplicity.

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All you need is a
couple of sausages now.

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No, good enough on their own.
Lovely.

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Back in the barn, I have set
up my own square ham factory.

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I have knocked up this mould to
form my meat into the right shape.

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The meat has been tumbling for a
couple of hours, soaking up all that
watery brine and tenderising.

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It should be ready now.

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This is just how I want it.

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Right, the meat is all ready.

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It's nice and sticky. Now it's time
to put it into my mould.

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It really is the stuff from
horror films at the moment.
It is really sticky.

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It's quite hard to get this stuff
out of my hands. And it doesn't look
too appetising... look at that.

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What I've got to do now is push it
right down.

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The importance of this

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is to make sure I don't
get any air gaps whatsoever.

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You can see the force of it start to
squeeze it down the bottom.

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You can hear the
air being squashed out...

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little popping noises.

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Now if I unscrew the plunger,
and I leave the metal plate inside

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and put these blocks in, which will
eventually go all the way up here
and keep the pressure on that meat.

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Lid on.

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There we go.

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The meat is still raw.

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To cook it slowly all the way
through, I'm using this hot bath

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fitted with some heating elements,
like a big kettle.

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Slowly lower this in.

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Just rest her in there and
let that cook away nice and slowly.

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It'll be ready in a couple of hours.

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Right, let's get this out

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and see what's inside.

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There we go, look.

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It looks like dog food. Right...

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There we go, look at that. Ba-ra!

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Well, it's square,
but what a disgusting colour!

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00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:52,160
There's nothing pink about it!

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00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:54,680
I've never seen anything
like it in my life.

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Right, I don't know if I
should make a wish or not.

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There we go.

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00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:05,440
There we go.

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00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:10,720
Look at that. Well, it doesn't look
spectacular.

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00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:12,920
In fact, the colour is almost green.

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The green colour suggests I
haven't got the added ingredients
or the tumbling quite right.

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00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:20,640
What I've tried to do has
actually worked

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00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:23,200
because all these individual pieces
of meat

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have all stuck together to
form one massive solid lump,

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which is square.

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Beautiful.

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00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:39,240
Look at that.
It's been a success, job done.

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00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:43,120
All I've got to do now is eat it.

192
00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:47,280
Do you know what? I think I'll
stick with my traditional ham.

193
00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:52,280
Later we made some more square ham,
but we cut the bits of meat smaller
and changed the brine mix.

194
00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:54,640
Phew, it came out pink!

195
00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:58,040
But will it pass the taste test
down on my farm?

196
00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:02,080
How does it compare to the square
ham that you buy in the supermarket?

197
00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,040
That tastes like processed ham.

198
00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,560
Yeah? Yeah. Is that something
you would buy in the supermarket?

199
00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:10,320
No. No.
No?

200
00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:13,320
If you were to score me out of ten?
For taste and that, five.

201
00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:17,400
For likeness to processed ham, about
eight. Eight. It's very like it.

202
00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:19,520
Nine.
Nine? Would you like some more?

203
00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:21,720
No, thanks.

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00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:30,640
Fresh Scottish salmon used
to be a seasonal food,

205
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but now you can get it all year
round,

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00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:35,840
so what have they done to the fish?

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00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:45,040
Most of us know that the Scottish
salmon we buy in the supermarket
is farmed, not wild.

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00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:50,120
To provide a year round supply,
fish farmers like Marine Harvest

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00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:53,480
have to play a
huge con trick on the salmon.

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00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:57,080
They have to fool the fish
into believing it's winter

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00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:02,400
when really it is summer,
and summer when really it's winter.

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00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:05,400
And that's not an
easy trick to pull off.

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00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:10,800
In the wild, this is where
it all starts for the salmon.

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00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:14,080
The adults would swim up here in the
winter to come and lay their eggs

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00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:17,840
in all this lovely
sand and gravel here.

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00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:22,680
In the wild, only about 10% of these
eggs survive, so the fish farmer

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00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:26,920
must use some clever tricks
to make sure all the eggs hatch.

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00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:30,440
But fooling the fish
doesn't start in the water.

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00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:33,280
You wouldn't believe it,
but it starts here in the shed.

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00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:37,840
Trays and trays of caviar!

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00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,320
That's the one! Just open this up
nice and gently.

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00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:44,600
Look at that moving, look!

223
00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:46,880
So you are replicating
what happens in nature?

224
00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:51,440
That's right, yes. In this
tray here, if I can just show you,
we have eggs on top of here,

225
00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:56,240
and once the eggs have hatched,
the alevins are small enough to drop
down through these gaps.

226
00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:58,600
So the tiny fish can
wiggle their way down here.

227
00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:01,000
Yes.
Like they would in between boulders?

228
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:07,040
Absolutely. So we take this off, and
there we have our substrate, which
is mimicking gravel beds in rivers.

229
00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:09,640
How many fish
potentially are in this tray?

230
00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:14,040
Well, there's about 14,500
eggs in that one tray. 14,500?!
That's right, yeah.

231
00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:15,640
And you've got trays of them.

232
00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:18,800
Yes, you can see. There's roughly
about 1.1 million eggs here.

233
00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:21,080
Unbelievable.

234
00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:25,720
Dougie Hunter must deliver salmon
to supermarkets throughout the year,

235
00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:30,280
so he has to use some clever tricks
to control when the eggs hatch.

236
00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:34,080
We use temperature and we use light
manipulation as well.

237
00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:39,600
So it's a combination of these two
which means we can stagger when
the fish go out to the sea.

238
00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,720
So by controlling the light and the
temperature, you can hold different

239
00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,800
trays of eggs at different levels
of development. That's right, yes.

240
00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:51,080
How long will it take you from
getting one of these from hatching

241
00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:55,600
into being a nice big salmon to
send off to the fishmongers?

242
00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:59,360
It takes approximately three years
for that process. Three years? Yes.

243
00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:02,680
So the fish we're looking at now,
these eggs, they're about to hatch

244
00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:06,880
and they will be on the plate in
three years' time. Three years time.

245
00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:11,360
Dougie keeps the trays dark and
cold so it feels like winter.

246
00:17:11,360 --> 00:17:15,080
When he wants a batch of eggs
to hatch, he turns on the lights

247
00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:18,840
and turns up the heat,
so spring arrives in the shed.

248
00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:21,760
Look at that! Clouds of fish.

249
00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:25,400
You can just put your finger
in there. That's 15 degrees.

250
00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:28,760
Outside at the moment in the
rivers it is about five degrees.

251
00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:31,320
Right, so it's nice and
warm for them. That's right.

252
00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:33,840
But because they're cold blooded you
warm the water up, they

253
00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,080
can eat more, they can digest
more, grow more. Yes, absolutely.

254
00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,040
Now it's not
just in the sheds that the salmon

255
00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:53,120
are being fooled into behaving
against their natural lifecycle.

256
00:17:53,120 --> 00:17:55,840
I'm here to find out what
other tricks are being used

257
00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:59,160
to ensure that the supermarkets
have a steady supply of salmon.

258
00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:14,840
This has got to be one of the most
beautiful farms I have ever been to.

259
00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:20,080
But this is March in Scotland,
and there is still snow on the

260
00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:24,840
mountain tops, so Dougie
has to fool the fish again.

261
00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:29,640
In winter, adult salmon swim from
the sea to the river to breed.

262
00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:35,840
During the long swim, they
lose most of their weight.

263
00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:40,400
In the river, they become
camouflaged and lose their
attractive silver colour.

264
00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:44,120
These changes would be a
disaster for supermarkets.

265
00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:50,000
In their natural life cycle they
would be going back to the river,

266
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:54,760
so they would colour up
just to take the shape and form of a
fish going back in the river.

267
00:18:54,760 --> 00:19:01,520
But you want your fish to stay nice
and silver, keep that colouration
which customers want. Absolutely.

268
00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:08,800
So the fish farmer has a simple
trick to fool the fish into behaving
as if it is still summer.

269
00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:12,760
Let's see what this big surprise is,
this trick of yours.

270
00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:16,920
Is that it? That's it. A light?

271
00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:21,480
It is designed to convince the
fish that it's still summer, even
though we are in the winter period.

272
00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:25,920
We have got small fish here which,
in their natural environment, would
want to mature towards the latter

273
00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,080
part of the year, but
this light actually prevents
them from doing so.

274
00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:30,800
We can keep them as an immature
salmon

275
00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:32,200
all the way through the cycle.

276
00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:36,560
So you keep them immature... almost
like Peter Pans of the salmon world?

277
00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:40,960
The traditional bars of silver -
that's what people want and
that's what we have to produce.

278
00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:46,560
The three year old fish in this
loch have been out here all winter.

279
00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:47,880
There's a beauty.

280
00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:52,960
But have they been fooled into
keeping their silver summer colour?

281
00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:56,480
Wow, look at that. The colouration.

282
00:19:56,480 --> 00:19:59,720
Beautiful.
I mean, they look like a painting.

283
00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:01,920
That's right,
and that's ideal for customers.

284
00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:04,600
That's what we want to see...
bars of silver.

285
00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:07,040
Right, back to base
then is it, fellas?

286
00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,000
Cup of tea and salmon sandwiches.

287
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,240
I bet you guys have smoked
salmon everyday, don't you?

288
00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,040
Well, it's good for you.
Living the life of Riley!

289
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,120
Bananas are one of the
sweetest fruits you can buy.

290
00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:35,000
When they're ripe, they're about
18% sugar, which makes them three
times sweeter than strawberries.

291
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,800
Now, a banana doesn't
start life off like that.

292
00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:46,360
When they're picked they're green,
hard and bitter and amazingly,
that's how they arrive in Britain.

293
00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:55,720
This box of bananas has just arrived
in the country. Look at that!

294
00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,040
Look how green those are.

295
00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:01,520
They're hard to get into.

296
00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:06,240
You'd break your fingers.
Now, break a bit of this off

297
00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:08,080
and have a taste.

298
00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:16,000
Now, that's very bitter, it
dries your mouth out. Very chalky.

299
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:19,200
Not the nice, sweet taste
you expect from a banana.

300
00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:24,040
Although bananas are picked and
shipped while they are still green,
suppliers have worked out how to

301
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:30,000
trick the bananas into ripening on
demand because we're very picky
about how we like to buy them.

302
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:36,800
What colour would you go for?
Slightly green, but mostly
yellow so they're ready to eat.

303
00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,680
What colour
bananas would you choose and why?

304
00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:41,720
I'd go for the slightly greener ones.

305
00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:43,280
You like a bit more
yellow on your banana.

306
00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:46,560
Well, yeah, because the kids
tend to eat it quite quickly.

307
00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,160
Can I just check your bananas?

308
00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:52,520
Just make sure you're not lying.
Trying to keep out of your way.

309
00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:54,720
Don't you worry, I saw you
trying to keep out of my way.

310
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:57,560
How do you reckon they get them here
all at the same stage?

311
00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:00,600
I wouldn't have a clue.
I don't even think about it. No?

312
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:03,760
In fridges? In fridges, yeah...
In greenhouses out the back?

313
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:07,160
Yeah, could be. Cold store,
something like that.
Could be, could be.

314
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:11,800
So, how do they ripen
green bananas on demand?

315
00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:15,720
When you bring fruit home
from the shop, if you put it on

316
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:19,560
an existing bowl of fruit, you'll
find it will ripen much quicker

317
00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:21,440
compared to if it was on its own.

318
00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:27,800
The reason for this
is that ripe fruit produces a gas
known as ethylene.

319
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:30,800
Ethylene triggers the
ripening process in other fruit.

320
00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:38,240
Ethylene gas is a plant hormone,
a chemical trigger produced by the
fruit which tells it when to ripen.

321
00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:42,600
The use of ethylene to ripen fruit
was actually discovered by accident.

322
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:47,760
Fruit growers found that when they
heated their storage with paraffin
heaters, the fruit would ripen.

323
00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:50,720
That's because when you burn
paraffin, small amounts of

324
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:56,200
ethylene is released, and you
only need the slightest whiff
to start the ripening process.

325
00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,520
This gave banana suppliers an idea.

326
00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:06,240
Instead of waiting for the picked
green bananas to ripen naturally,
could they ripen them artificially?

327
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,600
I'm going to try out some
ripening tricks myself.

328
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:17,440
A different experiment
in each of these barrels.

329
00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:25,480
I'm using these green bananas, which
arrived at the docks this morning.

330
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:29,720
To make sure my experiments
really do make a difference,
I'm doing nothing to these bananas.

331
00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,840
I'm just going to leave them
outside, inside this barrel.

332
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:36,960
These should stay green,
but let's see.

333
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:38,720
I'll number this barrel number one.

334
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:44,240
The bananas in the other barrels,
I'm going to try to
ripen more quickly.

335
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:47,280
For barrel number two, I'm going
to copy the fruit bowl trick.

336
00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:53,000
Will these ripe apples
turn these green bananas yellow?

337
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:57,280
Put these lovely apples in here
with the green bananas.

338
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,400
Right, barrel number three

339
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:05,480
is going to get a dose

340
00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:07,840
of ethylene.

341
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:11,200
If the theory is right,
a blast of this ethylene gas should

342
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,920
also kickstart the natural supply
of ethylene inside the bananas.

343
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:18,440
Put that right at the back.

344
00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:19,960
OK.

345
00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:25,640
I won't have to keep gassing
the bananas with ethylene.

346
00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:28,600
Just one whiff should
start their own supply.

347
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,400
Right, get the lid on.
Get the lid on quick!

348
00:24:35,120 --> 00:24:37,960
Right, barrel number four

349
00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,120
is going to get my wild card.

350
00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:46,120
Finally, I'm inspired to see if I
can trigger the ripening with fumes,
just like the paraffin heater story.

351
00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:51,440
The exhaust fumes coming out of this
mower also contain ethylene gas.

352
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:55,040
You can see
all the exhaust fumes coming out,

353
00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,160
filling the barrel.

354
00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:02,600
That's all
the drums primed and ready to go.

355
00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:07,280
Now, let's see which one
will ripen the fastest.

356
00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:12,680
But which of my barrels primed
with ethylene will give the
bananas the biggest kickstart?

357
00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:18,320
Will it be barrel number two,
which is keeping it fruity?

358
00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:20,600
Or could it be barrel
number three, a real gas?

359
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:25,880
Or will it be barrel number four,
a pure petrolhead?

360
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:30,440
Which of these bananas
will be the pick of the bunch?

361
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:37,840
Banana suppliers allow
four days to ripen their bananas,

362
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:41,400
so let's fast forward to
the result of my experiment.

363
00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:44,920
Let's see if any of these
bananas are ready to make it to
the supermarket.

364
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,240
I didn't do anything
to barrel number one.

365
00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,880
I just left them outside
to ripen naturally.

366
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:53,960
There's not a great deal of change.

367
00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:58,280
So, what has happened to the bananas
I have tried to ripen artificially?

368
00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:00,200
Let's have a look at these guys.

369
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:04,120
Barrel number two
is my fruit bowl experiment.

370
00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:08,440
These green bananas
have definitely climbed two
places up the ripening chart.

371
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,720
Right, next barrel.

372
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:15,200
Three places up the chart,
barrel number three.

373
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,400
It looks like it's heading
for top of the crops.

374
00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:21,520
Let's have a look. This is the
barrel I pumped ethylene into.

375
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:24,880
But the pure petrol heads
are zooming up the chart, too.

376
00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:34,520
But this week's banana chart
highest climber is definitely
barrel number three, pure gas.

377
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:40,880
It just shows you, where I've
added the ethylene, either from the
apples, spraying in from a canister,

378
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,720
or via the exhaust fumes,
it has caused these bananas to

379
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:50,840
ripen much quicker, and I reckon
they would be ready to send
off to a supermarket.

380
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:56,920
So I've successfully copied the
trick suppliers use to trigger
their bananas into ripening.

381
00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:01,040
Barrel number three, where I exposed
the bananas to air enriched with

382
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:05,800
ethylene gas has produced
the ripest, most yellow fruit.

383
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:07,360
The pick of the bunch.

384
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,200
And that's exactly
what suppliers do.

385
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,160
Of course, they don't use barrels,
but sealed ripening rooms.

386
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,880
Now that I've got all the
bananas out together,

387
00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:18,920
you can
really see the difference.

388
00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:22,040
These three
have ripened up much quicker,

389
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:23,720
and are far more yellow

390
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:26,880
than my control bananas,
which are still very greenish.

391
00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:28,560
Let's try one of these guys.

392
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:30,800
This looks like a nice ripe banana.

393
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:34,480
Much easier to peel, this one.

394
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:37,560
There we go.

395
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:46,360
Still a little hard, but much, much
sweeter.

396
00:27:46,360 --> 00:27:53,880
And that's how supermarkets
guarantee bananas are always
just about ready to eat.

397
00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:56,880
One last thing.

398
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:03,360
There we go, lovely ripe bananas.

399
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:14,040
Making my own supermarket food
has been a real eye opener.

400
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:17,680
From square ham to stay-soft bread,

401
00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,920
cornflakes to instant coffee
powder,

402
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:22,920
and processed cheese to frozen peas.

403
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:25,400
That is a J.

404
00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:28,640
But now I know what
they're really doing to our food.

405
00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:30,720
Whoa!

406
00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:47,440
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407
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:49,920
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